ios 15.3.1 search contacts doesn't work

Been dealing with this for days. Finally working again. In Contacts, touch Groups in upper left corner, then ALL the options. Not sure how or why there are some separate lists, but IT FINALLY WORKS AGAIN!!!

I don't think they are recongizing this issue. As an alternate, I am using the contact search via the dialer. I open the dialer and then go to contacts and start searching, that is the only way. :( No patch issued so far.

Hello and welcome to Apple Support Communities, emagrant!

We understand you're having trouble with searching for contacts in the Contacts app. We'd be happy to provide information to help you address this.

Try restarting your iPhone to see if that resolves the issue: Restart your iPhone

Let us know if that doesn't solve your issue.

Have a great day!

Okay guys, I had the same problem: searching contacts in the ios contact app stopped working ;-( -- Just rebooting the machine didn't work for me, BUT... I just deleted the contact app fully from my phone (yes, this is possible... ;-) and reinstalled it from the app store (within a second) and... wow, it worked again... Good luck, my friends! :-) Let me know, if this worked for you!

I copied and pasted the solution that worked for me... it's from HBFetter:

HBFetter

User level:

Level 1

13 points

May 17, 2022 6:54 AM in response to emagrant

Been dealing with this for days. Finally working again. In Contacts, touch Groups in upper left corner, then ALL the options. Not sure how or why there are some separate lists, but IT FINALLY WORKS AGAIN!!!

I am facing a similar issue, the contact search is not functioning after the last update. They should launch a patch soon else it is getting difficult to use the device, I make atleast 20 voice calls in a day.:-/

hi Everyone

it’s simple. 1-in icloud.com choose contacts and in the groups select all contacts and on setting at the left bottom choose select all and then select export vCard

2-after that refresh page and add new group and at the bottom select import vCard and import exported vCard and import

3-sign out icloud.com and on the iPhone connect network and select contacts and refresh it

1. problem solved,

I can’t believe they ruined the best part of using an iPhone - the search. Now you get more about CNN then you do about your own contacts on your phone. Passwords kept can’t be accessed because the intermediate version of contacts on spotlight search doesn’t provide “notes” data. This sucks apple - stop making me see CNN bufunery! Fix this issue!

Yes this works! Look Upper left “groups” link in contacts area, i had one email account I never use unchecked. After selecting “all” at the bottom, magically my name contacts works again? Nice find! But Apple - why the H would selecting an email account under groups be freaking connected to the ability to search names in the contacts? That’s just weird and stupid Apple! Much as we pay for these things, that one dumb problem cost me tons of look up time. Grrrr.

Bingo! Thank you so much for the Groups tip! After the update somehow All iCloud had been unselected, and only All Gmail was selected. By reselecting all iCloud inGroups, now contact search works again, specifically finding all contacts where the search words are anywhere in the contact record, like in Company or Address. Thank you, thank you, thank you, HBFetter, and absolutely NO thanks to Apple!

I FOUND YOU...

Thank you, HBFetter. Your tip worked like a charm! I tapped Contacts, then Groups in upper left corner, and found that one Group had somehow been unticked - the one that had all my contacts! I selected it again, and voila! the Search function is working again in Contacts.

AND THEN I FOUND ME!

While I was looking to reactivate the Contacts Search function I uncovered an awfully useful shortcut that should be better publicised: Hold down the Contacts icon briefly to find your own record!

That never did work on my wife's new iphone. The tech at call support apparently had not heard of this

problem. Was not helpful at all, although he tried. Kept saying "lets try this..."

Unfair to him to put him in the 'field' with inadequate training.

Asked him to escalate problem. Apparently he had trouble getting a senior advisor. I finally hung

up after being on hold tooooooo long.

HBFetter!!! Thank you so much for your answer. I've been super frustrated for quite a while. I had to search with a spotlight search just to find contacts that I used on a regular basis. Your solution has solved my problem. Thanks again!!!!

Please help! this does not work for me and I've had issues with my contacts not working for a couple of years despite updates and restarting. I search for a name (even one on my favorites page) and it does not show up. If I dial the phone number of a contact saved in my phone - only then will their name show. This is very frustrating.

No restarting did not resolve the problem, tried it several times